Method of making hollow metal bodies



y 1954 H. J. SIMONEAU 2,632,700

METHOD OF MAKING HOLLOW METAL BODIES Filed Nov. 9, 1951 A TTORNEYS- Patented July 6, 1954 METHOD OF MAKI B NG HOLLOW METAL IES Henry J. Simoneau, North Attleboro, Mass.

Application November 9, 1951, Serial No. 255,703

4 Claims. 1

This invention relates to improvements in a metal hollow ball or head finding for use in the jewelry and dress trade and a method of making the same.

Heretofore, attempts have been made to make a hollow metal bead free of any openings so as to prevent any leaking of liquid therein during the coloring operation thereof. Any coloring liquid which may have leaked into the interior of the bead may' thereafter escape from the bead to stain or otherwise mar the finished article to which the bead is attached. A method of making these beads now practiced in the trade consists in drawing a, sheetgmetal disc blank into cup shape and thereafter; closing the open end by a heading operation to form the bead, these beads thereafter being placed in arolling mill to smooth outany irregularity in the surface thereof. This method involves considerable waste of material in the blanking operation to produce the discs and when the material is a precious or semi-precious material, such waste becomes of considerable importance in the cost of. manufacturing the beads. 'Furthe'r, many beads made by this method leak to produce the undesirable results above referred to.

The general object of this invention is to provide for making hollow metal beads free of any seams or openings in the walls thereof.

Another object of this invention is to provide for making a hollow metal bead from tubular material by compressing the stock at intervals into substantially solid form to provide a tight seal for the head.

A more specific object of this invention is to provide for making a hollow metal bead from' tubular stock in which the stock will be progressively reduced into a plurality of connected beads with the meeting edges of the beads tightly closed by a solid neck to be thereafter separated into individual beads.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists of certain novel features as will Figure 5 is an elevation showing a plurality of connected beads as formed by the die shown in Figure 4;

Figure 6 is a sectional view of a plurality of such beads asshown in Figure 5 on an enlarged scale;

Figure 7 is a sectional view of a single bead;

Figure 8 is a sectional view of a fragmental portion of a rolling mill showing a plurality of separate beads being acted upon;

Figure 9 is a plan view of a. portion of the die shown in Figure 4;

Figure 10 is a sectional view taken substantially along line Ill-l 0 of Figure 4;

Figure 11 is a sectional view of a die for further operation upon the beads.

In carrying out my invention I employ metal tubular stock material in theform of a tube l5 of any desired length having relatively thin walls, circular in cross section, and of a diameter substantially equal to the diameter of the beads to be formed thereon. The tube may be made of any suitable metal material which may be precious or semi-precious or base metal as the case may be. In the present instance, I pass the tube I 5 through a reducing die [6 which may be of the progression type having a plurality of cavities I'l therein which act upon the tube l5 to reduce the same step by step int 'a series of nearly spherical bodies is connected to each other by a narrow neck portion l9 (see Figures 5 and 6). r

The die I 6 comprises upper and lower sections 20 and 2| in the meeting surface of which there is provided a plurality of depressions which when the die is in the closed relation form cavities 22, the edge portions of which act upon the tube to reduce the same into bead form, as above stated. Each cavity 22 is spaced from the other, and the portions of the die between each cavity forms an annulus 23 to form the said neck portions I9. The size of each annulus 23 from the entrance end 24 of the die to the opposite end thereof is progressively reduced in diameter so that the annulus 25 and 26 on either side of the last cavity 22' are of diameters less than twice the thickness of the wall of the tube l5. Thus, the neck portions I9 are compressed in the final die operation on the beads l8 into a solid compact mass to tightly close the meeting edges of the said beads.

The formed beads [8 are next severed from each other such as by means of a saw 21. The neck portions l9 are made of a length substantially equal to the thickness of the said saw 21' so as to leave a minimum of excess stock 28 about the said meeting edges of the said beads. The separated beads [8 are now operated upon by a rolling mill generally indicated 29 which functions to roll out any slight irregularity in the surface of the bead l8.

Heretofore, in rolling out hollow beads, any slight protuberance on the surface of the bead such asis providedhy the remaining neck portion 28 be pushed inwardly and make a dimple in the surfaceof the bead. I have overcome this by making the cavities of the die l6 slightly oval in shape with the longer axis a thereof ex' tending lengthwise of the dieJfiIhe diiference'in length between the axis a and axis 1) of the nearly spherical cavities 22 may be found by trial;. in a head to finish in diameter, I have found that the longer axis a may be made 15 thousandthsto 1 20 thousandths longer than the axis 1); thus, the beads leave the die in a nearly spherical form with the longer axis thereof extending in the direction of the said meeting edges of the-bead. Such a bead, I have found will roll out perfectly smooth and spherical with the said excess stock 28 flowing or otherwise absorbed in the walls of the'bead asthe axis a and b are equalized. There is, of course, no opening in such a bead, nor is a seam noticeable with the naked eye.

After the beads have been rolled out, as above described, the same may be finished in any usual manner. If desired, the bead may be pressed, as shown in Figure 11, into other than spherical shape as by way of example, in an oval shape 30.

It will be apparent that I have disclosed a method by which a hollow spherical object may be made free of any seams or openings into the cavity thereof, and which method provides for a considerable reduction in the amount of waste usual in the prior art methods of making such beads. It will further'be apparent that I may 4 intervals to provide a nearly spherical body with the portions of said tube adjacent to said body forming a solid mass of a diameter less than twice the thickness of the Walls of the tubing to completely close said body, severing said solid mass closely adjacent to said body and thereafter rolling said body under pressure to flow the excess of said solid mass remaining on said body into the walls thereof. .2

2. A method of making hollow metal beads which consists in reducing a length of tubing at intervals to provide a plurality of spaced nearly make these beads of any desired sizes and that these beads may also be subsequently shaped to various non-spherical form, if desired.

I claim: 1. A method of making a hollow metal bead which consists in reducing-a length of tubing at spherical body portions, each with an axis cor- Responding to the axis of the tube longer than the axis. atright angles thereto with the portion of said tubing between said bodies forming a solid mass of a diameter less than twice the thickness of the walls of the tubing to completely close said bodies at their axial ends, severing each solid mass closely adjacent to the bodies connected thereto and thereafter rolling said bodies under pressure to flow the excess of said solid mass por-. tions remaining on said bodies into the walls thereof and said bodies into spherical form.

3. A method of making hollow metal bodies as set forth in claim. Z'Wherein the severing of the said solid mass portions isby means of a saw and the spacing between each body ismade substantially equal to the thickness of'the saw.

4. A method of making hollow metal bodies as set forth in claim 2, the additional step of shaping the spherical body after rolling into nonspherical form.

References Cited in the file of this patent 1 r UNITEDSTATES PATENTS Number Name Date 378,412 Burkhardt Feb. 21, 1888 501,547 Thomson July 18, 1893 1,636,808 Canda July 26, 1927 1,665,361 Hodge Apr. 10, 1928 2,106,495 Debor Jan. 25, 1938 2,231,556 Arpin Feb. 11, 1941 2,469,975 McCloy May 10, 1949 

